Somewhere in the Darkness
by Nil089
Summary: 2 Years ago, Squalo was sent to another usual mission. Kill the target and then leave, that was the routine. Yet, he did not expect a young girl lying in the middle of corpses, asleep. Now here he was, taking care of the girl he now called his daughter. First Set 2 years before the Varia arc.(Currently on Pause for re-writing)
1. Found

_Chapter 1: Found_

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><p><strong>I don't own KHR, it all belongs to the wonderful Amano Akira. <strong>

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><p>Squalo finally arrived at the location after the delayed flight. Yet here he was sitting down and having a cup of coffee while waiting for the right moment to infiltrate the location. He sighed slightly and tapped his leg impatiently. He knew that there was no reason to get irritated yet this mission was way too important for him to be delayed. Finally after a few minutes of waiting, he saw his chance. Squalo bolted from his seat and quickly snuck inside and to a spot where he couldn't be seen. Suddenly, it dawned on him that it was too quiet. Squalo frowned slightly and cautiously moved around the halls. There was no sign of human activity. This was unusual for him, it even looked temptingly safe for him to come out of the open and let down his guard. Of course he didn't, he figured it was probably a trap of some sort.<p>

Squalo moved on to other rooms, finding it even stranger and stranger to find no sign of any humans around the area. He finally arrived at the ballroom, already out in the open with his sword out. As soon as he opened the door, the stench of rotting bodies hit his nose like a wave hitting against a cliff. The room was also unnaturally humid too. His frowned deepened as he saw the many bodies all in the room. He sighed a bit and turned around to leave the room, seeing no need to go in since he saw his target, dead on the ground along with his men. That was when he heard a small yawn coming from the bodies. Immediately, Squalo turned around again and ran towards the sound.

In the middle of a few dead bodies was a girl with tan skin and raven black hair. She was laying down and about to open her eyes. Her arms were covered in dried blood yet her clothes were not stained. Squalo looked at the girl curiously as she opened her eyes to reveal warm honey brown colored eyes.

"Who are you?" She asked softly.

The girl looked at him curiously, waiting for him to answer. Squalo kept quiet and frowned a bit.

"Who are you?" She asked again in a louder voice and then with a tone laced with panic. "Wait, who am I?"

Squalo sighed a bit as the girl started to panic and curl up into a fetal position.

"Voi," he said to her.

The girl looked up at him.

"Did you do this?" He asked calmly.

The girl sat up and looked around. She looked horrified as she saw the rotting bodies around her.

"I don't...know," She replied hesitantly as her face started to pale. "Did..I do this?"

Squalo sighed as the girl started to have another panic attack.

"VOII!" He shouted.

The girl just winced and jumped back only to bump into another dead and decomposing human body.

"Calm down," Squalo said in a normal-ish volume. "Now, tell me what are you doing here?"

"I don't know," the girl whimpered in reply. "I just woke up..I don't know."

Squalo sighed again and saw that she wasn't lying. He was curious why a girl her age would even be in such a gruesome scene. Yet he knew that he couldn't get answers.

"Stand up," he said sharply.

The girl blinked a bit and looked at him in utter surprise. Squalo just pulled her arm, making the girl stand up.

"Let's go," he said gruffly.

The girl nodded and shivered a bit. She certainly didn't like what the way Squalo was dragging her around yet she knew that she had no choice. Maybe she would also get her memories back. If not, then she would just ask the man about that. A small sigh escaped from her lips. That was when the realities of the world suddenly dawned on her mind. Her stomach started to growl, her throat was very dry and her body felt heavy with fatigue. She tried to control them but making her vision go dark.

Squalo caught the girl and looked at her with surprise. She looked even worse than when he first saw her. There was no use in further interrogate her if she was in no condition to speak. Immediately, Squalo set the girl down on the floor and got out his phone to contact Lussuria.

Xanxus looked over to the sleeping girl and then to Squalo. He was slightly surprised by his actions but he didn't seem to care this time.

"She can stay," he said with a shrug and returned to his room.

Lussuria seemed delighted by this, while Squalo just seemed relieved that his boss did not throw a hissy fit.

"So what's her name?" Lussuria asked excitedly.

"I don't know," he replied with a small tired sigh. "She seemed to have forgotten once she woke up."

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><p>Squalo looked at the sleeping form of the girl. He started to doubt himself why he even bothered to keep the girl alive in the first place. He sighed slightly and left the room, he needed some rest. Lussuria, who was about to ask why saw him leave and sighed in frustration. He looked at the sleeping girl and smiled warmly before leaving the the room and gently closing the door behind him.<p>

The girl woke up only to be greeted by the grumbling of her stomach. She sighed in frustration and tried to distract herself from her hunger by looking around where she had woken up. It was a 180 degree change from her last location. She was not surrounded by bodies but rather by a very well lit room with fluffy blankets that kept her warm during the night. She blinked a bit in surprise and pinched the skin of her arm, wondering if she was already in heaven. Though before she could do that, the door opened.

Squalo went in to see the girl was already wide awake and looking at him in shock.

"Are you an angel?" She asked in awe.

Squalo facepalmed and wondered if the girl had already lost her mind but yet replied, "No I'm not an Angel."

"Then am I dead?" the girl asked.

"You are not dead!"

"I'm not?"

"You're not brat."

Squalo sighed and looked at the dismayed girl. Already, he could tell that it's going to be a pain in the neck trying to get this girl to try to remember stuff. He was about to say something but was soon interrupted by her stomach growling.

"Sorry," the girl muttered softly.

"Let's just go eat," Squalo said with a defeated sigh. "You're obviously hungry."

The girl nodded and got out of bed, then quickly then followed Squalo out of the door. As they neared the dining room, the girl noticed that there were people there already.

"Ah you're awake," Lussuria enthusiastically exclaimed with a warm smile.

The girl suddenly clung on to Squalo and stayed behind him. Xanxus on the other hand just ignored them and ate his breakfast steak. While Belphagor just looked at the girl curiously.

"So sweetheart," Lussuria said to her. "What's your name?"

"I-i," the girl stuttered, suddenly afraid of these men.

"VOIIIII!" Squalo shouted, slightly annoyed by this situation. "Lussuria sh-"

"Shishi Why didn't you kill her?" Bel asked with a grin.

The girl paled even more and whimpered slightly, suddenly letting go of Squalo and slowly backing away. Squalo glared at Belphagor and pulled the girl's arm to prevent her from escaping.

"She doesn't know what her name is and I have my own reasons," Squalo replied with an angry hiss.

"Shishi This is new," Belphagor said with amusement laced in his voice. "You trying not to shout that much to prevent the girl from getting scared."

"WHY DON'T YOU MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS BRAT!" Squalo shouted, clearly annoyed by this.

The girl winced slightly and shook with fear. Tears started to form on her eyes and ran down her cheeks.

"Squalo!" Lussuria exclaimed and quickly went over to the girl, wiping her tears. "Behave yourselves you two, she's just afraid."

The girl just back away and fled towards Xanxus, escaping from Squalo's grip. Leviathan suddenly froze as soon as the girl clung on to Xanxus. He stood up and gave off an intimidating aura as he glared at her. Xanxus on the other hand was slightly shocked and surprised by this action. He looked down at the scared girl and sighed a bit, he patted her head awkwardly.

This seemed to calm the girl down and also stopped her crying. Soon only a few sniffles can be heard from her until she was utterly quiet. Leviathan on the other hand was shaking with anger as he saw this. Yet there was nothing he could do but to watch like the others.

Finally when she calmed down, the girl just let go of Xanxus and apologized. She seemed to be a lot more calmer than before.

"Catrina," Xanxus suddenly said. "Do you like that name?"

"Ah yes," the girl replied with a small warm smile. "I like that name."

"Then that's your name," Xanxus said then stood up and left, leaving the other Varia members slightly speechless at this sight


	2. Preparations

_Chapter 2: Preparation _

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><p><strong>I don't own KHR, it all belongs to the wonderful Amano Akira. <strong>

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><p>"Can I have it?" Catrina asked with huge wide puppy eyes beaming towards Squalo. "Please?"<p>

"No," Squalo replied firmly, trying hard not to say it loudly in fear of giving away his cover.

"Please," she pleaded. "I'll do anything, so please get me that?"

Squalo remained silent and kept walking briskly. He was annoyed at the whiny voice that she used and the way her eyes sparkled in the sun made her much cuter than she seemed. He almost caved in to the adorableness. To him, this definitely wasn't the same girl that he found.

"Dad," Catrina pleaded with a small frown and looked back at the item behind the clear glass walls.

Squalo sighed and turned around and pushed her towards the shop.

"Kid," he angrily hissed at her. "No more after this."

Catrina smiled brightly and nodded She practically skipped a bit towards the shop after hearing those words. Squalo sighed a bit and looked at the simple blue dress. He would've prefered more suitable and easy to move clothing for her. He smiled slightly as he looked at the delighted features of the girl. Maybe there was no harm in buying the dress after all.

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><p>Vongola Nono looked at Xanxus with his mouth hung open and his eyes wide.<p>

"Y-you want to a-adopt?" He stuttered. "S-since w-"

"Not me old man," Xanxus replied angrily. "Squalo, he found the girl first."

"You could have gotten the papers without my consent," Vongola Nono said with a small frown, his initial shock fading away.

"I know," Xanxus replied and sighed a bit. "We just don't know how to take care of a kid."

There it was, Xanxus couldn't believe the words that came out of his mouth. In all his years, he didn't expect some father advice from him. A small chuckle escaped from Vongola Nono's mouth. Xanxus' blood began to boil, he shouldn't have gone to him.

"I'll be sure to come by later," Vongola Nono said with a warm smile plastered to his face. "Until then."

Xanxus watched, curiously as his father took out a small blank sheet of paper and wrote out some things. His anger had dissipated quickly as the man just kept writing. Finally, after a few seconds of writing, he gave the paper to his son.

"Here are some basic things first," he cheerfully said. "I don't know her age so I categorized it and keep in mind that I raised boys not girls so some of those might not work."

Xanxus looked at Vongola Nono with surprise then looked down at the paper. He silently left, while reading it. He sighed a bit, slightly feeling a bit miffed because of him asking him. Yet it was worth it though, or so he thought.

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><p>Catrina quickly organised the stuff that she and Squalo bought. She couldn't believe how easily she had befriended the Varia in a span of only a few days. She remembered the day after the night that Xanxus named her.<p>

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><p><em>Catrina was slightly annoyed at being woken up so early in the morning. She somehow knew that mornings weren't that bad yet she couldn't sleep well that night. A small sigh escaped from her lips as she went into the huge living room. Everybody else was already there. She felt herself grow small and timid as they looked at her. She just sat down quietly, not saying a thing. <em>

"_Listen carefully brat," Squalo said to her once she sat down. "I won't be repeating what I just said."_

_Immediately, Squalo started to explain who they are. Catrina listened, while trying to absorb what was suddenly hurled at her with no warning. Finally, after the explanation, they looked at her with keen eyes. Wondering what her reaction would be. They were disappointed though to see the calm facade she wore. _

"_Shame," Bel said with a small frown set on his lips._

"_I'm sorry," Catrina softly said with a glare going towards him. "I should be panicking but I feel as if I've been through this kind of stuff before." _

_A small playful grin donned on the blond's lips as he saw the glare. There was the urge to throw something at this guy. Yet she didn't, Squalo prevented that before she could even act. On the other hand, Squalo was just amazed how this girl did a full almost 180 in her attitude. _

"_Shishi." _

_Catrina's eye twitched slightly as she heard the laugh. Suddenly, she could already feel something tugging itself out of her her foggy mind. She froze, her glare already gone and her face turning deathly pale. _

_**Vongola. **_

_Her body shivered in fear as she remembered that word. Whatever happened to her before she lost her memory had something to do with what Vongola was. Before she knew it, she was caught by Squalo, who was giving her a concerned look._

"_What's Vongola?" She quietly asked, her voice slightly cracking. _

"_Didn't I tell you?!" Squalo exclaimed. _

"_Dude," Catrina plainly said and then stood up. "You woke me up really early in the morning and you expect me to absorb stuff like that like a freaking sponge?" _

_She had already forgotten about her fear. Squalo sweatdropped, this girl was definitely strange. A small smile emerged from her lips as well as a softened look in her honey brown eyes. It was clear that what she remembered still stayed with her even when she smiled. _

"_Let's keep her," Bel declared suddenly. _

"_No," Squalo replied with no hesitation at all. _

_No matter how much the girl had piqued his interests, he had no interest to take care of her. Nor did he want her to live around such psychopathic people like the Varia. He knew how hectic and crazy these people can be. _

"_I second the guy with the plastic crown!" Catrina suddenly piped up. "I wanna stay."_

"_No," Squalo objected and glared at the young girl._

_Bel on the other hand just smiled thinly and emitted a dangerous aura around him. Catrina just smiled sweetly at him to just provoke him even more. Already Squalo could feel another headache coming up. _

"_Besides," she added. "I'm already involved with you people." _

_A small sigh escaped from the long silver haired man's lips. He looked at her and saw the determination that had sparked in her eyes. _

"_Alright," Squalo said with resignation evident in his voice. "But the Boss gets the final say in this." _

_Catrina grinned and hugged Squalo. He just stiffened and looked over the others with panicked eyes. The others just chuckled, he could see Mammon taking pictures. Great more blackmail._

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><p>She looked at her new room and smiled warmly. The boss, Xanxus, had given her permission to stay but only in the condition of joining Varia as Squalo's second in command. She was surprised at first, she had asked him why he would give such authority to someone who he just met.<p>

"Those are my conditions brat," he had replied with a somber tone.

Catrina was angry at first but reluctantly agreed. She was confused later on though. As she spent a few days with Squalo and the others. She did things that she thought she didn't know how to do. Now here she was impatiently waiting for Squalo to return from the boss' room to train with him.

She looked out of the window and frowned slightly. A small warm feeling washed over her as she saw the sun start to set. Catrina's body started to put its guard down as she kept staring at the mixture of colours in the sky. As she kept staring, a small hint of sadness appeared.

"Mio Cielo(My sky)," she murmured softly, unaware of what she is saying. "Where are you?"


	3. A Year

Chapter 3: A Year

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><p><strong>AN: Hey guys. Thank you so much for reading. There was someone asking quite a bit of things and I wanted to clarify it. Feel free to review and/ or correct me on some mistakes. **

**Catrina's Age:**

**Two Years Before Varia Arc: 15 years old**

**Varia Arc: 17 Years old **

**Catrina's origins:**

**You will see ;) **

**Disclaimer: No need to remind you but KHR is not mine, it's Amano Akira's. Catrina is mine though. **

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><p>Vongola Nono looked at the big stack of paperwork and inwardly groaned. He only needed to complete a reasonable amount before sneaking out and going to visit Squalo's new adopted daughter. Yet it seemed like he would never visit at this rate. The Don sighed and got his pen out. It was going to be a long day.<p>

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><p>Catrina was wandering the Varia headquarters. All of the members were gone due to missions. She was alone and bored. A year has passed since she was first discovered by Squalo. It was a month filled with preparations and a lot of improvisations. Her mind, thankfully did not erase her basic daily functions. Therefore that was what made the transition easy. The only problem was education and also what she would be doing under Squalo's care. Both Xanxus and Squalo did what they could to cover that problem. Xanxus would talk with Vongola Nono, while Squalo would teach her about developing her fighting skills. Both men had come to appreciate the girl. The same could be said with the other Varia members.<p>

Catrina on the other hand just enjoyed her experience with the insane bunch. In that time, she found herself becoming like them. Their shenanigans have made her more cheerful. It made her not worry about her other memories that she had forgotten. Now with them gone, she was just bored and lonely. Suddenly she heard a huge thud come from the entrance. Immediately, Catrina sped towards the door.

In front of her was an old man with grey hair and kind golden like eyes. He stood straight and walked with confident steps.

"Ah you must be Catrina," He kindly said to her with a warm smile.

"Vongola Nono?" she asked and tilted her head.

She had heard a bit about him from Xanxus. So far, she did not expect the man to be so kind looking.

"Correct," the old man replied. "Sorry about the noise, I was rushing a bit. Where are the others?"

"Missions," Catrina said with a small sigh. "They'll be back soon though."

The Don sighed slightly upon hearing this. He reminded himself to scold them later especially Squalo and Xanxus. They shouldn't leave a child unsupervised like this, even if she could take care of herself.

"Do they mind if you go out then?" he asked her. "I have a feeling you might want to go out."

Her eyes lit up and a huge grin came from her lips. She nodded her head, after all there was almost nothing to do inside the Varia Headquarters.

"I'll be back,"Catrina cheerfully said before skipping off to her room to change into regular clothes.

The Vongola Don just looked at her with a small heart warming smile. She reminded him of his sons when they were growing up. He was also reminded of how Xanxus would smile like that to him.

"I'm back," Catrina said, interrupting the Don of his thoughts.

Vongola Nono smile went wider and almost turned into an amused smirk. In the back of his mind, he was putting up another reminder to tell Xanxus and Squalo about boys that might come after the girl because of her looks. He inwardly chuckled and escorted the girl out of the Headquarters.

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><p>One by one, the Varia members trickled into the headquarters. They found Vongola Nono chatting with Catrina while also drinking some tea. At first they were shocked but soon relaxed to see that the girl wasn't harmed.<p>

Once Xanxus came in along with Squalo, both were whisked away by the Don before they could even react or say anything. The others watched and rubbed their eyes in disbelief before slowly going back to the usual shenanigans.

The Don had whisked both the short-tempered boss and the sharko father into the library section of the building. He wasn't breathing hard, showing that the man still had some strength in him to do these kinds of things. Xanxus and Squalo on the other hand were dazed on how quickly they were just pulled like that.

"Both of you," Nono coldly said to them.

Both men froze and looked over to the old man.

"You need to have Catrina be supervised with one of you or take her along," Nono scolded. "I don't care if you know she can take care of herself. This girl is very vulnerable and her opinions are easily swayed, she could very well develope a hate for all of you if you leave her alone too much."

Squalo frowned, Xanxus just looked down in shame. These men have been way too attached to the girl, it horrified them that she might hate them in the future because of them being gone so long. Nono smiled a bit as he looked at their expressions. It was good that the girl was doing some changes within the Varia.

"Another thing," the Don spoke up. "Don't be surprised if you get worked up over her dating a guy."

Squalo scoffed, Xanxus just shook his head with a small scoff. As if they would get angry over that. After all, it's not like the guy was going to..Squalo and Xanxus paled at the thought. Nono chuckled inwardly, he was having too much fun seeing the different expressions these two were outwardly displaying. He coughed slightly, causing the two returned to their usual state, both were glaring at the amused Don.

"Now now," he calmly said, holding in some laughter. "Calm down, just keep in mind what I just said."

With that, the old man left before the two could say anything. It was New Years Day.

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><p><strong>6 months later<strong>

Catrina couldn't hold in the blood that was running down her side. She gritted her teeth and forced herself to clear her own vision. She was losing too much blood at the moment. At any moment, she could faint but resisted the will to do it. Catrina was still too deep into enemy territory.

On her other hand was a small phone given to her by her father,Squalo. She quickly dialed his number and set it on speaker.

"Voi Catrina what's wrong?" His father asked as soon as he picked up the call.

"I need back up," Catrina weakly replied. "I'm losing quite a bit of blood and there are still quite a lot of guards, the target is dead though."

Squalo gritted his teeth and hung up, immediately, he made his men go to the location where Catrina was. He threatened them that if they don't arrive by at least minutes, they would not live to see another day.

Catrina ran and ran. She shouldn't have underestimated the enemy. Now here she was at their mercy, running around like a scared little mouse.

Another shot. And another.

Catrina just ran, not minding the searing pain of a bullet going through her flesh. A small smile reached her lips as she saw a ledge. Immediately she ran even faster and jumped into the air before landing into cement spikes below. Thankfully only one of them pierced her on the stomach.

"Crud," she whispered and coughed out blood.

She was still alive but dying slowly and painfully. Catrina wanted to live, she wanted to live her moments with the Varia, her new family. As her vision started to darken, Catrina was trying to fight the urge to sleep. That was when she remembered. This was what made her resist even more. But it was futile, in the end, the girl succumbed to the great sleep.

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><p>Squalo looked at the coffin with a hollow feeling. He blamed himself for sending the girl to the mission by herself when she insisted to. He blamed himself for having to rely on his subordinates in her time of need.<p>

As they buried her body to the ground, the Varia stood there in silence. Once on the ground, Xanxus stood up and dumped his vodka down on the coffin out. His face showed no emotions, yet pain was visible in his eyes.

Vongola Nono watched with sadness as Xanxus was once again in pain. He couldn't bare to watch as his son took up another bottle and drank it to drown away his pain.


	4. The Varia

Chapter 4: When the author gets a bit lazy and puts in some timeskips

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><p><strong>AN: I didn't expect the reactions from the last chapter..Really not at all. Despite all that thank you for reading. Just a heads up though, there is a chance I can't update for 2 weeks or more. I'm going to a wedding that's why. I might not be able to access the internet anyways. Either way, thank you all again for the reviews and the views. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own KHR, seriously I don't**

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><p>She was pathetic.<p>

First she casually jumped from a high height and then she got spiked by cement spikes. What was worse was that she finally got her memories just before she died. Right before she freaking died. Yet somehow she felt calm.

Catrina had hope. Not only because of her memories but also because of what will happen next in a span six months.

With that, she gave her final breath and died calmly.

For most of his life, Sawada Tsunayoshi would sit down in front of his sister and tell her about his life and how their mother was doing. The only problem was that it was one sided. His sister was in a coma due to a car accident that had occurred since she was 5.

Now here he was, at age 14. He was still tiredly clinging on to the hope that she would awake. Fortunately for him, his wait was well worth the reward.

Sawada Natsuki opened her eyes to see a very happy and cheerful brother, grown up yet still looking cute as ever in her perspective of course.

"Tsu," she hoarsely whispered.

"Don't talk," his brother said with a worried look in his face. "Just take it easy."

Natsuki looked at her brother and smiled warmly. She slowly closed her eyes and slept, knowing that she would wake up again with her little brother at her side.

Iemetsu looked down at the letter that his beloved wife had sent him and laughed happily, tears were streaming down his face. Finally, his little Natsu had woken up from her coma. He hugged the letter then wiped the joy tears from his eyes.

Quickly, he went over to where Nono is to request a special trip back to Japan. Once he arrived though, he saw Xanxus sitting on a chair across from Nono. He blinked a bit and entered the office cautiously.

"Did something happen?" He asked, noticing Xanxus dull eyes and the heavy atmosphere that engulfed the office.

"Ah yes," Nono replied with his eyes softening slightly as he gazed at the scarred man. "You know of the new female recruit that was adopted by the Varia?"

Iemetsu nodded. Everyone in the Vongola knew her, the child that had calmed down the wielder of the Flames of Wrath. He felt his gut twist up slightly as he realized that something must have happened to her.

"Did something happen to her?" He asked him.

Nono hesitated and looked over to Xanxus before replying, "She's dead."

The advisor understood immediately. He inwardly sighed and patted Xanxus on the back.

"I'm sorry for your loss," he softly said.

Xanxus just glared at the advisor, not wanting the pity. Yet he looked so broken. Iemetsu wished that he could do something to ease the pain. Upon further thinking, he decided to postpone his request feeling that it would be very selfish of him to ask such a request at the current time. Nono sighed softly and looked at his broken son, he knew only time will have to fix his wounds.

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><p><strong>Six Months + some time later<strong>

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><p>"FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS IN THE FREAKING EARTH TSUNAYOSHI WAKE UP!" Natsuki shouted angrily.<p>

Tsuna woke up with and quickly sat up.

"Ohayo Tsu," Natsuki said with a childish giggle.

Tsuna sighed and rubbed his eyes. He wondered if the neighbors were okay with that sort of volume at such a time.

"What time is it?" He asked groggily.

"You know what time it is," Natsuki replied with a playful smirk before leaving his room.

Tsuna's eyes widened and he quickly rushed to prepare for school. Inwardly in his mind, he was crying once again because of his predicament. Natsuki just waited for her brother while looking down at her watch to see how many minutes it takes for Tsuna to realize that she woke up him up at least 2 hours before school started.

"10 minutes," Natsuki said as she saw Tsuna glare at her with his uniform fully on him.

"Na-nee," Tsuna said, seething slightly.

Natsuki just smiled brightly at her younger brother and made a heart sign from both of her hands.

"Love ya too Tsu," she cheerfully replied.

One look at her made him just let it go. Tsuna sighed and sat himself down. Ever since Natsuki woke up, she had been going through some therapy to help with her coordination and speach. In the span of six months, she was back to normal again but she was held back a couple of grades. Despite being 17 years old, Natsuki, like her younger brother was slightly slow at learning.

When 3 months of therapy had passed, Natsuki was allowed to go back to school. As days went by, Natsuki saw some change in her brother when Reborn, the so called baby tutor arrived. She also quickly saw how friends, one by one started to be made. Slowly, but surely, Tsuna was unknowingly gaining respect from her older sister.

"Tsu-kun is growing up nicely huh?" Nana softly said to Natsuki as she watched Reborn greet Tsuna with the usual '_ciaossu' _ before smiling innocently over to their direction.

"Yes he is," Natsuki replied with a small smile. "I just wish that I were there with him when he grew up."

Nana lightly patted her daughter's head and shook her head with a warm smile forming on her face.

"Na-chan," Nana said to her. "He knows that you still love him, despite the time gap."

Natsuki didn't look convinced, Nana just gave her an assuring look before looking over to the others with a bright and warm smile. Natsuki looked at her mother then at her brother. She then looked over to the kids then to Bianchi.

"Don't try to hold it in," Reborn said to her with a gentle smile on his face.

Natsuki blinked a bit and looked at the fedora wearing baby with surprise. She then looked over to her brother, his eyes were telling her the same thing.

"Thank you," she said with a warm smile.

Soon, the usual things started to happen around the table. Reborn would be stealing Tsuna's food. Natsuki would be giving food to her younger brother. Bianchi would always eat with a small smile on her face, while the three children would happily chat. Nana would happily watch the scene with that bright smile of hers.

Tears fell from her eyes and ran down her cheeks as Natsuki realized how she fit into the picture. A mix of pain and happiness was felt as she cried.

"Are?" Lambo said, noticing the tears. "Natsuki-nee are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Natsuki replied with a small smile. "I'm just, happy.."

And indeed she was, yet she still felt unhappy as if this scene was incomplete.

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><p>Xanxus stood up from his seat and looked out of the window. Behind him was a beautifully designed box. In it were 7 half Vongola rings. Now all he had to do is to get the other halves of the rings. A small smirk emerged from his lips. So far everything has gone smoothly. He glanced back to the untouched Vodka bottle and took a drink from it.<p>

'_Soon,' _He thought proudly. '_Just you wait brat.' _

Unknown to him, Iemetsu had given the box filled with the other half Vongola rings to a young teenage boy named Basil at that moment. Basil just accepted it and quickly went out, throwing the original plan that the Varia made out of the window.

Xanxus sighed, feeling slightly more calm. He then looked out of the window once more to the direction of her gravestone. He wanted to visit her before they set out to get the other half set.

* * *

><p>Squalo laid down a bouquet of flowers in front of the grave and patted the gravestone before he silently left.<p>

* * *

><p>Mammon and Bel came together at the gravestone to see the bouquet already there.<p>

"Shame," Mammon said as she laid down the bouquet that they had already bought.

"Shishi doesn't matter," he said with a cheerful grin. "I bet she would've loved it."

Mammon nodded then disappeared. Bel just pouted and left.

* * *

><p>Levi and Lussuria both were surprised that there were already two bouquets laid down on the grave.<p>

"Mou," Lussuria said with a huff. "Why didn't they tell us?"

Levi just sighed and laid down his bouquet, Lussuria did the same. Both left soon after.

* * *

><p>Xanxus was the last to arrive at Catrina's gravestone. He had a bottle of Vodka in his hand, unopened and yet to be drunk. With a bit of force, the scarred man opened the bottle and poured half of the bottle's contents to the gravestone and drunk the rest. He then left with confident strides.<p> 


	5. Whole

Chapter 5: Whole

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><p><strong>AN: This is my last update before I go. Got to say, I was hoping to reveal the secret at a sort of slow pace but I decided to just reveal it right now. So far, I can say this is a bit rushed so I apologize for the mess. Anyways thank you so much for the reviews and views.**

* * *

><p><em>Somewhere, Checker face grinned slightly as he was notified of the last piece of her soul just arrived back to it's host. He had to admit, the little girl was a good player, avoiding him for almost 12 years.<em>

"_You win my little frozen sky," he murmured in amusement._

* * *

><p>Natsumi looked over to the little blue butterfly approaching her. A huge grin formed on her face. She extended her arm and let the little insect land on her finger before it melted. Natsumi closed her eyes and her brows furrowed a bit. A small frown replacing the bright grin.<p>

"I'm so stupid," she murmured softly before heading towards her classroom.

* * *

><p>Ever since Reborn met Natsumi, he had always kept an extra eye on her. He wanted to also bash Iemetsu's head on the wall. The man was an idiot, sending such outdated information on his family despite Natsumi being on a coma for the last 12 years. Yet there was no changing the past the girl was awake now and her little brother was the heir instead of her. There was no changing that.<p>

So Reborn watched. He watched and waited. Then he made his conclusion. Sawada Tsunayoshi really was the best candidate for Vongola Decimo despite his sister being the older of the two. Iemetsu really did make the right choice, yet he knew the man's ideals would have to be broken. Natsuki was still fragile despite her fast recovery. Once Tsuna was made Decimo, her life along with Nana's life would be in danger. There was no avoiding that both would be harmed one way or another by the mafia. The secret would have to be told.

* * *

><p>An outing sounded like the best idea to both siblings.<p>

Yet it turned into something else.

Natsuki stood frozen as he saw the silver haired man fight the young teen with the blue flames. She watched as he knocked her brother back into the wall. She watched as he approached her with the sharp sword.

"Natsuki!" He heard his brother yell out at her as he tried to protect her.

_Clang. _

The silver haired man smirked as he saw the girl's eyes turn golden orange. All around her were frozen sky flames that looked and felt like metal.

"Superbi Squalo," she calmly said. "Your Catrina is not dead."

Squalo felt his blood run cold. He jumped backwards, only to be interrupted by the Chiavarone Don. Natsuki just ignored their talk and willed her frozen flames to return, her eyes once again turning back to it's original color. Then she passed out.

* * *

><p>"<em>I must say I'm impressed," A voice said to Natsuki. "To think that you could still be able to use your flames after just getting back the last piece of your soul." <em>

"_I'm impressed with myself too," Natsuki replied while shaking her head. "Checkerface-sama, I'm honoured by your compliment."_

"_It just proves your power," Checkerface replied, showing himself to her. "It's still growing, like your brothers."_

"_My brother is stronger though," Catrina said with a small proud smile. "I know he will soon surpass me and the greatest hitman." _

_Checkerface chuckled and nodded in agreement. He couldn't wait to see that moment, but for now he just had to wait and watch. _

"_You should wake up," Checkerface said before disappearing._

_Natsuki sighed and willed herself to go to the light._

* * *

><p>Natsuki woke up to see a pair of worried caramel brown eyes staring at her.<p>

"Tsu," she said with a smile.

She inwardly groaned, it seems like waking up to see worried faces are starting to be a thing for her.

"Natsuki," Tsuna said with relief laced in his voice. "Are you okay?"

Natsuki nodded in reply. So far she knew that she broke no bones. Suddenly her thought went back to Tsuna and that young teen with the blue flames.

"That boy," Natsuki said. "Is is okay?"

"Yeah," Tsuna replied. "He's fine, his name is Basil by the way."

Natsuki sighed in relief, she was slightly worried knowing Squalo's capabilities of killing a person.

"Na-nee," Tsuna softly said. "Those metal things around you."

"I'll explain later," Natsumi assured.

Inwardly she was laughing knowing it was just frozen flames. She was glad for the look of it or she would have angered the silver haired man even more. It was a relief that she would have to keep her secret even longer.

Tsuna just sighed worriedly and left her, leaving Natsuki to mutter softly to herself something about losing another bet to that guy.

Meaning while Reborn was nearby watching Natsuki with pure interest. He was not an idiot, he could see that those were dying will flames in their frozen version. Also when she had used that ability, his pacifier glowed as if she were an arcobaleno. That was another point to have the hitman's attention come to the girl.

Natsuki just closed her eyes again and lulled herself to a deep sleep.

* * *

><p><em>Catrina, no Natsuki opened her eyes and sat down on her seat at the head of the table. <em>

"_Welcome back boss," a figure said from one of the six seats. "Congrats on winning the bet, You're now even with Checkerface-sama with the number of wins and defeats."_

_Natsuki nodded and gave the figure a thankful smile before looking at the occupants of the seat. Once she concluded that they were all there, she snapped her fingers to reveal their true forms. One by one, the figured formed into 3 female adults and 3 male adults. _

"_I see you've all been busy," Natsuki said with a small amused smile as she saw them with a tired look. _

"_Same to you too," one of the males spoke up. "You've just woken up after you got back your piece of the soul labeled Catrina." _

"_I know," Natsuki said with a small sigh. "Though as Catrina, I learned a bit of a lesson."_

"_And that is?" the same male asked. _

"_Love can come from the most weirdest of people," Natsuki replied with a serious look on her face. _

_The rest just sweatdropped yet they agreed. After all they weren't the type of people that were considered normal. Over half of the people there were in the mafia, some of them are also prisoners of the Vindice. What was even more weirder was having a 17 year old be their boss. _

"_So," one of the females said with a small cough. "What are we called here for boss?" _

"_Ah the reason for the meeting," Natsuki said with a small smile. "Is because you've all been assigned to a little mission that Checkerface-sama approved." _

_Cheers resonated from the people. It had been a while(only two days) since their last mission. A small warm smile formed on Natsuki. _

"_So what's the mission?" one them asked with enthusiasm. _

"_Ah the mission is to watch over the Ring Battle," Natsuki replied. "Checkerface-sama said that in this period, wild flames will be the most dangerous." _

"_That's to be expected," one of the women scoffed. "We are talking about a pure sky flame going up against the flame of wrath." _

"_That might not even happen," Natsuki replied. "But we will have to be careful, Reborn might be watching and I might have been the one to tip him off about that."_

_Natsuki cringed as she felt the cold glares stab her. _

"_I'm sorry," she said with a sniffle. "I unconsciously produced my frozen flames out of defense."_

"_What else did you mess up Boss?" one of the women coldly asked. _

"_I may have told the Varia a hint that Catrina..ahem me is alive?" Natsuki said with a squeaky mouse voice. _

"_She's just a child She's just a child," one of them murmured to themselves as they got out their weapons. _

"_P-please don't hurt me," Natsuki whimpered, her eyes turning big and doe-like. _

_The adults stopped and looked at the girl. _

"_Tell me that's not her chibi mode," one of the males said with a groan._

_The other adults just stood silently and put away their weapons, soon the said male also did the same. Natsuki saw this and smiled brightly, blinding almost everybody in that area. _

"_Ugh let's just wake up and do our missions," one of the male tiredly said. _

_One by by, the adults disappeared, murmuring something about cute genes being too dangerous._

* * *

><p>Natsuki woke up once again to see more sets of worried eyes and wondered if this was punishment for everything that she had done. It was the third time and the second time in one day. She had noted that it was now in the afternoon.<p>

"Na-nee," Tsuna said worriedly.

"I'm fine," Natsuki said with an assuring smile. "Besides, I have to tell you about my weapons right?"

Reborn frowned but accepted the half lie and half truth explanation. As Natsuki talked, he noted that she really did have a connection with the mafia but only mentally due to her comatose state. He also noted that her informant was currently a Vindice prisoner.

"And that's it," Natsuki said with a shy smile after explaining her situation.

Tsuna was pale and trying to digest the information though Reborn knew that his hyper intuition would pick up the lies soon enough when given the time and more evidence.

"I'm sorry Tsu," Natsuki apologized as she saw Tsuna's pale face.

And she really was truly sorry.


	6. The Frozen Sky

Chapter 6:The Frozen Sky

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><p><strong>AN: Hey I managed to update during this trip. Please enjoy. Thank you for the reviews and thank you for the views. **

**Just in case that no one picked up: **

**1. Catrina is actually a piece of a soul. That's why she didn't remember anything. Her real identity is actually Sawada Natsuki.**

** things in italics are in a dream. I'm sorry for not clarifying**

* * *

><p>About 10 days were given to Tsuna and his guardians to train for the upcoming fight. Everybody was busy, especially Tsuna and his guardians. They had all managed to be excused from school, especially Natsuki.<p>

Recently,Natsuki had a problem with a certain hitman. She knew that her explanation would get a lot of suspicion from him. Yet she didn't know it was to the point where she too had to train alongside Tsuna and participate in the guy's little plans.

Despite all that, she still had the time to meet up with her friends in her dreams.

* * *

><p><em>Natsuki once again woke up to see the usual set up of the room. She saw the figure her friends once again sitting down on their proper places before sitting down on her chair. <em>

"_Are you okay Boss?" one of the males spoke up as soon as she had taken her seat. _

"_I'm fine," Natsuki replied with a tired sigh. "I was just forced into one of Reborn's little training antics." _

_All of the adults stiffened slightly as they saw small cuts and bruises cover her arms as the fog around them lifted to reveal their true forms. _

"_Let me kill that man," one of the women sharply said with a cheshire grin on her face. _

"_It's just Spartan like training," Natsuki defended, immediately seeing that grin. "Besides, these things are not that bad compared to the type of training that hitman has made my brother go through." _

_All of the adults went quiet yet couldn't help but agree. There was a reason why most of the mafia men wanted Reborn to teach their heirs. He was simply just one of the best. _

"_On to the meeting," Natsuki said. "As you all know, the Sun battle is about to start soon."_

_One of the male grinned, his white teeth shining. _

"_That means," Natsuki continued. "You will be up for this one Alek."_

_Alek nodded, his eyes lighting up at the mention of the match. Alek was a Vindice prisoner yet recently, he had gotten out due to special permissions from his own family. He was in prison because he had broken Omerta by telling his wife and kids about the mafia due to stress. In the end, he had lost his wife and kids because of kidnapping. _

"_I'll fulfill this service," Alek said with a serious look on his face, his blue eyes shining with resolve. _

"_We all know you will," Natsuki replied. "You're all dismissed, Alek meet me at Nanimori shrine."_

_With that, the whole place disappeared and Natsuki woke up to see a set of curious pair of black eyes looking at her._

* * *

><p>"Ciaossu," Reborn said.<p>

"Hey," Natsuki said, her lips twitching slightly downwards. "What time is it?"

Reborn didn't answer, with a sigh, the elder Sawada sibling sat up and took a look at her watch.

"Baka-Natsu," Reborn said.

"Hai Reborn?" Natsuki asked calmly, not looking up from her watch.

"Don't you dare run out right now," Reborn coldly said to her.

"I'll be fine," the girl said, looking up with a bright smile a flowery background suddenly popping up behind her.

Reborn could've sworn that he saw Tsuna and Nana in that small picture yet he didn't. He didn't budge also with that bright smile beaming it's full power at him. Mentally though, alarms were ringing but he forced his body to remain calm with the least effort.

"Baka-Natsuki," Reborn coldly said at her with a cold voice that could cut through almost everything.

"Bu-bye!" Natsuki quickly said before opening the window and jumping out.

Reborn immediately followed, concealing his presence. He watched as Natsuki ran towards the direction of the Shrine, a small smirk emerged from his lips. It was about the same speed as Tsuna would run whenever he would force him to run. With that, he decided to just follow and see why the girl wanted to go out after her little nap.

Natsuki slowed down as soon as she reached her destination. In front of her was a tall man with a jet black suit, dirty blond hair, and sparkling blue eyes.

"Nice to finally see you Boss," he said in a deep baritone voice.

"Alek," Natsuki said with a bright smile, the flower background suddenly popping up behind her.

"Shit," Alek said and looked away. "Don't go into straight chibi mode on me now Boss, agh it's upgraded now."

"What do you mean?" the girl asked, purely confused.

"N-nevermind," the man replied, trying his best to withstand this wave of moe(cuteness) in front of him. "Anyways, I'm all set for the mission."

"Good," Natsuki said, her face reverting back to normal. "Just be careful of your presence."

Alek nodded and walked away, while Natsuki looked at the tree where Reborn was hidden and sighed.

"You're making me lose my bet," she whined. "Not cool Reborn."

"I always get my answers," Reborn said, jumping out of his hiding spot. "Now spill Baka-Natsuki."

"Fine," Natsuki said, shivering slightly under his cold gaze. "As you know, Primo perfected the Zero Point Breakthrough effect, despite being a dying will flame user."

Reborn nodded, making sure his ears catch every word of it.

"Dying will flames in it's negative state is always Frozen,"Natsuki continued. "My flames are the negative version of dying will flames."

"That still doesn't explain why my pacifier glowed," Reborn piped up.

"Ah that," Natsuki calmly replied. "Negtive dying will flames are very rare, it's form is usually the more flamey one. The reason why it's frozen is because of a curse and a blessing given to me and a few others by a certain Checker-faced man."

Reborn froze, he felt his blood boil at that mention. Natsuki just stopped and waited for him to control his anger before he signalled her to continue.

"Instead of a pacifier," Natsuki continued. "We have pocket watch and for our curse.."

Natsuki stopped and frowned slightly.

"We are forever stuck with this power until it destroys our bodies," Catrina softly said. "Everyday, we have to use the leftover dying will flames produced by the world to make sure our power doesn't freeze our blood."

"When did you receive this curse?" Reborn asked, his fedora now cover his eyes.

"When I was five," Natsuki replied. "I was the last one that received this curse in the current set."

Silence.

Reborn was seething. It was bad enough to create the Trinsette and curse them. It was enough that he was stuck in a baby form, not able to grow up. Now here was another set of cursed people all doomed to die if not enough flames are administered into their systems.

"And you haven't told anyone?" Reborn asked.

"No,"Natsuki, feeling a sharp feeling in the back of her neck. "But I'll get in trouble for telling you."

Reborn looked over to the glaring blond man that was standing behind her. He had already sensed him but ignored him while Natsuki was speaking.

"I'm sorry Alek," Natsuki said.

"No, the one at fault is the Arcobaleno," Alek said. "You better not spout this stuff to anyone else."

Reborn just smirked slightly. In front of him was a seasoned hitman, almost close to his level but not quite. His mind was whirring slightly, wondering who the cursed others are.

"Alek," Natsuki coldly said, her eye color turning slightly orange.

"But Boss," Alek said but closed his mouth as soon as he saw the stern orange eyes look at him.

Reborn watched and smirked slightly at the scene. He knew in time even Tsuna would be like that. A powerful figure, worthy of Vongola Primo.

* * *

><p>Squalo looked at the box with the rings on it. Yet his mind was somewhere else. The words of the girl with the metal rings around her resonated in his mind.<p>

"Is she really dead?" Squalo murmured to himself.

Somewhere in his gut, he knew that she really was alive.


	7. The Sun Battle

_Chapter 7:The Sun battle_

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><p><strong>Disclaimer: I Don't Own KHR. <strong>

* * *

><p>Sawada Natsuki looked over to her brother and their group with a slight frown. Unlike Tsuna and his friends, she was not required to come by and watch them. Yet Reborn forc-ahem insisted for her to come by and watch. Even Alek was also for-ahem I mean invited to come by. Unfortunately, it meant having to deal with another freaked out Tsuna.<p>

"Na-nee," Tsuna said, obviously wary of the blond man behind her.

"Tsu," Natsuki greeted with a small smile. "Ah don't worry about him, Alek is a friend of mine."

Tsuna froze. That explanation just made the guy seem more suspicious to him. Yet he decided that it was not best to ask anymore when he saw her sister's lack of reaction from the presence of the man.

"Ah right where's the Varia?" Tsuna asked, suddenly thinking back again to the current situation at hand.

"They have been on standby for a while now," one of the Cervello announced.

Natsuki looked over to the Varia and inwardly smirked. As expected it seems like Xanxus wasn't present with them.

"Voi," Squalo said in annoyance and pointed at Natsuki. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Reborn," Natsuki replied calmly. "Besides, I want to watch this battle."

Squalo just scowled and crossed his arms. Despite her honesty, there was something about her that was starting to irritate him. The other members also noticed this and decided to avoid the long haired man for a while. An irritated Squalo was never a good Squalo. An irritated Squalo also meant the death of your eardrums.

"Please go on Cervello," Natsuki said. "Ignore me and my friend here, we're only spectators."

Both pink haired women looked at each other and then to Natsuki. Both communicating through eyes. Both still held their silent pokerface facade.

"The first battle will be between the guardians of the sun," one of them said.

Natsuki watched Ryohei step up. On the other side, Lussuria stepped up, looking quite pleased with the opponent he was to fight against.

"Alek," Natsuki softly said to the blond man.

The blonde man smiled slightly before looking down to his watch. He looked up again only to see the opponents conversing before starting their fight. He pressed the silver knob on his wristwatch and merely watched as a spectator.

* * *

><p>Natsuki looked at the traces of sun flames coming out of both men with her specially made sunglasses. She was glad that she had brought them along with her. The girl had not expected the ring to be so bright yet she could see why the ring was set up as it was.<p>

"**Destroying the misfortune that attacks the family with their own body, they become the sun that brightly shines upon an area**," Reborn had said to them.

Natsuki had evaluated the two, she had already knew Luss from her memories from Catrina but she only knew little about Ryohei. Currently both seem to be about evenly matched in her calculations and observations. Both held the sun flame within themselves too. Yet her eyes were caught over to Ryohei. His white hair was slightly drenched from perspiration.

"Knuckle," she murmured in awe and soft enough so only she could hear it.

As Natsuki watched and observed, she also noted her little brother's expressions. It went from shock to awe then down to worry. Especially when the boy's sister came by in the middle of the match to gave him a psychological power up. She could feel herself relax a bit upon noticing small stream of sun flames clearly coming off the girl.

By the time Lussuria was defeated the Gola Mosca sent out a missile, she felt the shockwaves of an explosion nearby. Her eyes went wide with shock as she looked over to source only to see a very nearly dead Lussuria. Her lips curl downwards in distaste and her eyes narrowed down to a glare that was beamed towards the Varia.

"Another hint," she hissed, her voice dripping with venom. "She just saw that."

Squalo watched as Natsuki just sharply turned around and left angrily, stomping slightly on the ground. He then looked around to see no one. He frowned slightly but just left as soon as he said a few confident words.

* * *

><p>Going back in defeat didn't seem to faze their Boss the slightest. Squalo didn't care either way, he was still thinking back to the brown haired girl's words. If Catrina was still alive that would mean she would have improved too.<p>

He scoffed silently. As if that would happen. She was inexperienced even when she was alive. He would have sensed someone watching them nearby, Mammon too would have felt her presence. Even if she did improve, the time frame would have been too short to actually catch up to their level. After all it was only more than six months since her death.

Yet his gut was telling him otherwise; That she was alive, that she was watching. That the girl's words were true. Squalo had never felt more conflicted. Yet he couldn't just blab out these things with Xanxus. In truth, the guy was truly crushed when she died. The way he would go around and help Squalo take care of her, it was obvious he loved her dearly. Guilt started to coil up in his heart and squeezing it tightly.

* * *

><p>The other Varia members knew that something was up with their long haired captain after he had returned to Italy with those fake rings. The guy had paced back and forth in his room with a pensive look in his face. Even his ear shattering voice was not present in the Headquarters during that time he was in his room.<p>

Now once again, they saw the long haired captain looking out of the window with a distracted look. His eyes were glazed over with a milky thin layer on top of his eyes. Everyone almost fell down to the ground to see their Captain in such a tranquil state. Bel had had to pinch his cheeks to just see if he wasn't dreaming. Levi turned into a frozen statue, while Mammon just checked and rechecked the state of his mind just to make sure that it was no illusion.

Then Squalo turned his head over to their direction.

"Oh," he said with a troubled frown and then went back to staring at the window.

Everyone was horrified. A tranquil Squalo was much more to be feared. With quick strides, the other members just left and closed the door, not even daring on asking Squalo about his recent behavior.

* * *

><p><strong>Omake:Catrina's adventures<strong>

Squalo looked down at Catrina and frowned slightly.

"What are you doing brat?" He asked as Catrina looked up from her hug.

Her brown eyes just glimmered and her smile was huge and big. Sparkles seem to surround the girl, hurting Squalo's eyes just slightly.

"Happy Father's day," Catrina happily said.

Squalo tensed up.

"Father's day?" Squalo asked.

"Yep," Catrina replied then let go of him.

Squalo inwardly sighed, his body wanted him to hug the girl again. Yet he was more curious about what the girl would do for the event. He looked down at her raven black hair as she bended down to reach the gift in his bag.

"Here," Catrina said and held out the box of chocolates. "Happy Father's day papa."

Squalo's mouth twitched upwards as he ruffled her hair and took the box of chocolates.

"You made these?" He asked in a gentle tone.

"Ah yeah," the girl replied. "When you eat it, you have to make sure to tell me how it is."

Squalo's smile quickly sharpened into an amused smirk.

"Of course," he replied.

Another bright smile with sparkles.

Squalo swore that he might go blind as he watched his daughter skips upwards to Xanxus' room.

Catrina had managed to sneak by Levi. Thankfully, the guy was a bit dense to be fooled by checking out the small distraction that she had made. Gently twisting the metal knob, she opened the door just enough for her to go in. Once in, she gently closed the door.

"What do you want trash?" Xanxus asked coldly from his desk.

"Boss it's me Catrina," Catrina replied, a small smile coming from her lips. "Happy Father's day."

Xanxus sighed and stood up from his seat and from his paperwork. Inwardly he was glad that he could escape this paperwork even if it was a short time.

"Squalo's your dad you brat," Xanxus said. "What's the point of including me?"

"Both of you are my dads," Catrina replied cheerfully. "Because even you helped me to take care of me when I was fazed with my memory loss."

Xanxus snorted, about to retort only to be stopped by a box of chocolates waved in front of his face. He just took the box and smirked slightly before opening the box and popping in one of the chocolates into his mouth.

"Not bad brat," Xanxus said as soon as he swallowed the chocolate.

A huge sparkling grin appeared from her face. Xanxus almost did a doubletake. Yet inside of him, something warm spread through his body, something that he hadn't experience in a long time.

Happiness.

"Alright brat," Xanxus said with a reluctant sigh. "I gotta do my paperwork…..good work ya brat."

Catrina smiled again with one of those bright sparkly smiles before leaving his office and running into an angry looking Levi.

"Eeep," she squeaked quietly before running away from the angry man.


	8. Interlude A part 1

**_Chapter 8:Interlude A part 1_**

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><p><strong>AN: I've decided to to put at least 2 chapters after each battle. The next chapter should be two Omake's for Catrina and Natsuki. So yeah, this one actually took me a while since I was busy catching up on homework. Anyways, please enjoy and reviews and critiques are welcome too.**

**Warning: OOC Varia**

**Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn does NOT belong to me, not even in a million years**

* * *

><p>The mansion was all to quiet for Xanxus' liking. First his silver haired second in command suddenly goes mute and keeps himself locked out in his room then he freaked out the others with his strange behavior. Now with Lussuria in the hospital, the quietness was getting all too worse.<p>

For the first time in a long time, Xanxus got out of his chair and went out to seek his subordinates, which he knew were all in the huge living room. He slammed open the door, only to see them all sitting in the couches in silence. A small amused smirk arose from his lips.

"Where's he?" He asked, not seeing Squalo in the small little crowd.

"His room." Bel replied then shivered slightly at the thought.

Xanxus noticed that the Cheshire grin that the small prince was famous for was replaced with a small scared frown. He could scarcely hold his laugh as he saw the sight before him. Full fledges assassins before him were cowering in fear because of some sort of silence from the once loud second in command. He just left and went over to the man's bedroom.

He tried opening it only to find it locked. His laughter was suddenly dissipated like a burnt out fire. He lifted his leg and kicked with his full force, breaking the poor door into itty bitty shards of wood.

"Trash," Xanxus darkly said as he went into the door.

He was only met with a restrained anger look. Squalo's mouth had gone down into a scowl and his eyes fiercely glowed with a bright fire of anger. Xanxus scoffed slightly, strange behavior my ass, the guy was just restraining himself.

"You haven't acted like that ever since Catrina came by," Xanxus seriously said to the silver haired man. "You can stop acting like that."

That fire in his eyes died down. Xanxus winced slightly, seeing the pain and guilt mixed within those eyes. Both were silent between the two men. One contemplating about the girl, the other just feeling down right bad.

"She," Squalo said then shut his mouth, suddenly breaking the silence and once again gaining the scarred man's attention and curiosity.

"What?" Xanxus asked.

"There might be a chance that she's alive," Squalo said in an almost whisper tone.

Xanxus scoffed a bit and laughed bitterly.

"You were there to confirm her body," Xanxus replied coldly. "She was just a novice, not even skilled enough to fake her death."

"What about the people she knew before she met us?" Squalo asked sharply, narrowing his eyes. "The bodies that I saw didn't lie, she was more of our level before she forgot."

"We would have known about her companions when she was with us," Xanxus plainly said.

"Then what about the three day trip before the day she died?" Squalo reasoned. "We were out of touch with her due to circumstances yet they might have contacted her, might have had her regain her previous memories."

"THEN WHY THE HECK DID SHE CHOOSE THIS THEN?!" Xanxus shouted, finally snapping. "IF SHE'S ALIVE THEN WHY CHOOSE TO FAKE HER DEATH?!"

Squalo went silent, his eyes started to be glazed over with a milky film. Xanxus just huffed and took out a bottle of vodka from under his jacket. He twisted open the cap and took a swig of it and handed it to Squalo. The silver haired man just took the bottle and did the same.

"You know that small brunette girl brat next to that guy?" Squalo hoarsely said, feeling even more tired from saying more words.

"Yeah," Xanxus replied, vaguely remembered the girl glaring at him and holding the other brunette's arm.

"I think she might have connections with our brat," Squalo said.

"Impossible," Xanxus said with a sigh. "She has little knowledge about us, even the trash didn't know much about us based on what you had reported to me."

"I haven't told you everything," Squalo said with a small scoff. "The only reason is because it's something that doesn't need to distract you."

Xanxus opened his mouth to retort about that statement but was stopped by his own mind showing him the previous few minutes. He just shut his mouth. Squalo just gave him a look of 'I told you so.'

"She had told me about our brat being alive," Squalo continued. "On the first day, she had shown herself to be a powerful opponent, even that trash didn't know about her powers. How the heck does one Japanese kid know about our brat in the first place? Well that's only plausible if she was in contact with her before she met us."

Xanxus' mind clicked in understanding. What Squalo said was starting to become believable. Even when they adopted Catrina, they had made sure that her identity was never known. Only the Varia and the upper echelon of the Vongola know about her. They even heavily guarded her information and made her learn to wear multiple disguises just in case she was caught.

"Give me information about that brat," Xanxus ordered then left the room, feeling a weight come off his shoulders.

For now, he should concentrate on the battles and his victory. Squalo on the other hand just sighed and wearily layed down on his bed. In his mind, all these questions about Catrina popped up but she swatted them away. He knew that if his mind was tired, he wouldn't be able to concentrate. Not in the battle nor the search for the ever elusive Catrina.

The moment that the Sawada siblings and reborn returned home, Natsuki had started to calm down. Arriving at her bedroom had made her completely calm yet having regretful thoughts of what she had said out loud. She was not an idiot, she could see the sparks of curiosity fill the eyes of the companions around her despite their best efforts to hide it.

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><p>"Stupid," she silently said to herself. "Of course they had to do that, they are the Varia after all..of course the guys would be interested."<p>

"Stupid."

"Idiot."

"Know how to use your brain."

These words came out of her own mouth as tears started to pool in her eyes.

"Stupid," she muttered one more time.

Images of her past life as Natsuki started to invade her eyes as tears fell down. The pleasant fights and the gruesome lessons given by the silver haired man. She missed those dearly yet she couldn't help but feel a pain in her chest as she realized how she shamelessly abandoned that all for a bet.

It's not a game.

Checkerface had told her several times. She just tuned him out and listened to her own thoughts. He had warned her on several occasions. Now here she was, suddenly bearing the weight of her own stupidity, desperately wishing for the clock to turn back. To not accept that ultimate bet that would cost her precious time with her family. To not break these people's hearts and make her feel so horrible.

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><p>Alek had sensed the distress with his boss as soon as the battle had ended. Therefore, he left her alone, deciding to watch Decimo's sun guardian by shamelessly freeloading. He approached the auburn haired girl and tapped her shoulder. She stopped and turned around.<p>

"Yes?" she asked, looking up at him with curiosity.

"I was wondering if I can stay in your house for a while," Alek said with a small shy smile. "I could ask my b-friend but I don't want to be an inconvenience to her."

Kyoko frowned, thinking about it. She knew that it was ridiculous for her just to let a stranger in. She was not that naive.

"It's okay Kyoko," Ryohei said, noticing the conversation and stopping. "He can stay with us, you're a friend of Sawada's sister?"

"Yeah," Alek replied with a bright toothy grin. "Sorry about not introducing myself, I'm Alek, a friend of Sawada Natsuki."

Kyoko looked at the man and smiled slightly, still not convinced. Yet, if her brother approved of him, there was no problem. She could see that the blond man was truly grateful judging by his smile.

"Wait how do we explain this to our parents?" Kyoko asked out loud, realizing the factor of their parents.

"I'll talk with them," Alek replied with an assuring tone. "If they refuse then I'll have to look elsewhere though."

Kyoko nodded, slightly feeling more comfortable around the man that would respect her parents' word if they reject. Alek on the other hand didn't care either way, he could always stalk I mean observe the white haired child while he was at school.

In the end, Alek was welcomed into the Sasagawa household with open arms. They found Alek to be a reasonable and responsible man. How, was a mystery to both the blond man and the siblings. After all, all they did was ask him about himself.

The reply was simple, he told them his name, age, and occupation. Then they asked him about his marriage life. A subject where Alek was still a bit touchy about.

"She's dead," was all he could say to them, trying not to reveal the sadness in his voice.

He looked away, missing the eyes of the parents soften slightly as they looked at this man.

"Your friend?" the father had asked.

"She's a bit busy dealing with something," Alek replied, glad of the change of subject. "As for my reason for asking this household. It's only for experience, something that I had done before and I now found out to be rude."

"Old habits do die hard," the father replied with a hearty laugh. "You're welcome to stay."

That was how it went. Now here he was talking with Ryohei about boxing while eating some food. A food, that he noted that had a touch from the sparkle fairy just for appearance. Soon, before they knew it, Kyoko went to bath with Colonello and Ryohei went to sleep.

A small smile reached up to Alek's lips as he watched the father and mother fuss over their children, making sure that they get comfortable.

He remembered doing the same thing when his little son came way he grinned, the way his smile lit up the entire house. Sadness overcame him as he remembered the blood that covered his son and wife. The way their arms reached over to him as. The pain was still etched into their faces. The tears, still going down their eyes. Alek clenched his fists tightly then softly took deep breaths.

"Are you alright?" the mother asked, worry swirling in her eyes.

Alek felt himself slump slightly, he unfurled his fists.

"I'm fine," he said with a strained smile.

"It's fine to let go a bit," the father said with a compassionate smile. "It's very evident that you also had a child."

Alek reeled back a bit and looked at the parents with shock. His blue eyes widened and his lips turned into an 'o' shape.

"It's obvious by your eyes," the mother said with a small delighted chuckle, finding the shock almost comical.

"I..see," Alek replied softly, cursing himself mentally for letting down his guard this much.

"What was the child like?" the mother asked, sensing that the atmosphere around the man starting to tense up.

"He was a lovely child," Alek replied automatically, a small nostalgic smile placed on his lips. "His smile would light up the house and his eyes would always be filled with a passionate light."

An embarrassed blush rushed into his cheeks, suddenly realizing how much he had said.

"It's fine," the father said with a bright grin. "Parents should gush over their children while they have the chance."

Alek groaned and placed his hands on his face. Suddenly he heard a new pair of chuckles, obviously coming from the three who was supposed to be in bed.

"That was poetic," Colonello teased, finding the situation to be more amusing than seeing Mammon and Fon interact.

Alek glared at the rain arcobaleno. More chuckles came from the two parents. The glare then came to the two, who just laughed.

"Tell me again why I'm here?" Alek whined as he tried to have the Sasagawa family plus Colonello to stop laughing.

Unknown to him, his heart had released the sadness from the deaths of his loved to him, he had unconsciously released pure sun flames, something that he hasn't been able to do for a long time.


	9. Interlude A part 2

_Chapter 8.5:Interlude A Part 2_

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><p><strong>AN: I made a lot of mistakes in this story. I unfortunately didn't realize it until it was too late. **

**1. Tsuna is currently 13, not 14. He's 14 in the Shimon arc I believe. **

**2.I did not put in Iemetsu and his visit to Japan, which I forgot to do. Just to make up for this, I'll probably do a flashback or an omake around the time when Gokudera's battle is next. **

**So on that part, I'm deciding to rewrite some parts and add in new chapters for more plot depth before I continue on. The top 2 I'll change and add(the second a lot more later on). That aside, please enjoy these two omake. **

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><p><strong>Omake 2: The chain reaction of the Sawada<strong>

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><p>It was a normal day in Nanimori Middle school. Everybody was trying to hurry up and avoid getting bitten to death by the head prefect, Hibari Kyoya. On that day, a petite brunet was humming and slowly making his way to the school. All around him, students stopped to look only to be blinded and be shocked by the sparkles and flowers around him.<p>

When the Bell rang, only a few students and the brunet were left just outside the entrance. The petite brunet just hummed happily as he strolled into the gates of the school and met by an angry prefect. The prefect walked up to the brunet and stopped in mid-stride. The reason was the smile that the young brunet gave to him.

"Herbivore," Hibari said. His eye twitched as he wished that he had sunglasses on him. The boy blinked and suddenly his smile dropped. His honey colored eyes widened in realization on who was in front of him.

"H-HIEEE!" He shouted, fear laced within the shout. The prefect inwardly sighed and held up his tonfas.

"Herbivore,"Hibari repeated cooly, betraying no emotion in them. "For being 3 minutes late, I'll bite you to death."

The brunet shouted his girlish scream again before trying to run away. It all ended in vain when the prefect just easily closed the gap between them. Sawada Tsunayoshi winced in pain as the cold hard metal tonfas hit his back. Already he was mentally regretting not writing a will in case this happened.

"I-i'm sorry," he stuttered as the metal tonfas hit him again. Hibari just hit the brunet again ignoring the words that he had said. Once satisfied with the degree of punishment, Hibari dragged the brunet to his class and went back to patrol for any more pr-stragglers.

Tsuna quietly went back to his seat, rubbing the bruises that laced his skin. He was just glad that the prefect did not do any further damage. Unfortunately the silence of the class made him fidget again and made the poor young man look up, his honey colored eyes swirling in confusion.

"I-is s-something w-wrong?" Tsuna asked, stuttering a bit. He looked around the class to felt like an insect being pinned to a board. The students didn't reply, they just looked at him with pity.

After a few seconds of silence, the teacher resumed the lesson. Once again Tsuna was ignored and some of his classmates just went back to listening. This left the young brunet confused on why there was that gap of silent staring.

Further into the lesson, the door slid open in the middle of the class. Everyone's eyes directed their attention to the door. A young brunette girl went in. Her honey colored eyes shifted toward the direction of the eyes uneasily.

"I-i was told that this is my class," she softly said, her voice sounding like small tinkling bells.

"You're the new student correct?" the teacher asked, looking down at the fidgeting brunette. The girl nodded. The teacher smiled assuringly and put down the yellow chalk in it's place.

"Class," the teacher said out loud. He looked at his students, who were surprisingly quiet. He saw the curious look in their eyes, confirming his thoughts that the new student looked a lot like a certain Dame in the class.

"Introduce yourself," the teacher said to her, giving her another of his assuring smiles.

"I-i'm Sawada Natsuki," the young brunette girl said with a shaky smile. "N-nice to meet you all a-and please t-take care of m-me."

"EHHHHH?!"Almost everybody in the class exclaimed. The teacher choked on his spit and coughed violently.

The students started to murmur. _Dame-Tsuna has a sister? Wait that means that Dame-Tsuna wasn't the one roaming the halls looking confused. I thought he was crossdressing. Wow, I feel bad for the girl being related to such a lame guy. Yeah. _

"I'm sorry?" Natsuki asked coolly. Everyone in the room froze. Head swiveled towards the source of the voice. Their eyes went wide as saucers as they thought they saw a purple miasma surrounding the petite girl.

"What did you call my little bro?" She asked coldly. "What did you call my little tsu?"

Everybody shivered and remained silent. In that moment, they were reminded of the head prefect.

"Well?" She asked loudly, her honey brown eyes narrowing slightly. When nobody answered, Natsuki just narrowed her eyes even more, making the atmosphere in the class even heavier. Almost everybody was trying to breath.

"D-dame-Tsuna!" One of the bullies shouted. The atmosphere was lighter and girl brunette giggled like a little school girl.

"See? That wasn't so hard," she said with a bright and angel like smile. Tsuna banged his head on his table. _Stupid little brother complex_ he thought distastefully. Immediately, he felt the searing hot stares of his classmates, who seem ready to kill him on sight. _It's not my fault that she's like that! _He wailed to them in his thoughts.

"Any questions th-," the teacher said, trying to get the atmosphere back to normal, yet he was interrupted by the door sliding open. Everyone, including the Sawada siblings turned their heads and saw the head prefect with a bloodthirsty smirk.

"Who's the little carnivore that put out that aura?" He asked. Everybody went silent, Natsuki on the other hand inwardly panicked, realizing what she had done. The prefect's smirk disappeared, he was starting to get irritated. He just held up his tonfas and repeated the question.

"Who's the little carnivore that put out the aura?" He asked once again, his eyes glinting dangerously. Everybody in the room shivered. The students quickly panicked and were about to point at Natsuki only to be met with a dangerous glare from the girl being directed at them.

"Herbivores," Hibari said, irritated by the lack of response. In reality, Natsuki was glaring at the students with an equal amount of evil miasma that the prefect has. The students really were in a tight spot. They either faced being beaten to death by the prefect or they could the daily torture of the new student.

Then the bell rang. Hibari Kyoya narrowed his eyes and left, Sawada Natsuki released her glare and went straight to her little brother. Everyone else, quickly released their breaths, glad for the danger to be over. The teacher on the other hand sulked in the corner of the classroom because he was unable to finish the lesson that he had carefully planned out the night before.

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><p><strong>Omake 3:The Commander's little girl<strong>

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><p>As recommended by his father in that small little note that he had gave her, Xanxus immediately ordered his other subordinates to have a scheduled "bond time" with Catrina. Some of the members hated the thought and others just squealed in delight(*coughsLussuriacoughs*). Yet they couldn't disobey the Boss' orders, so they followed the order.<p>

The first to be put in was Squalo. Despite his respect for the girl, he still had a couple of doubts of her overall being. First was her lack of memory and the second was the way she could barely understand his one-time explanations. Despite that, the time he had spent shopping with her made it aware to him how innocent the girl was to the point of him wanting to baby her. Of course, he would never do that. Squalo knew that the Varia only accepted the best and Catrina wasn't an exception to that high standard.

So on the first day of bonding, he made her train. The girl just grinned instantaneously and proceeded to train without a sour look in her face or any vulgar words coming out of her mouth. The silver haired man was thoroughly impressed. As he thought, her body still retained memory of training. She was clearly showing potential of being Varia-quality in that snippet of time.

Things went well up until the near end. That was when her stomach grumbled loudly, wanting food. Squalo, still impressed decided to take a break to eat, being slightly famished himself. So they went indoors.

When they went in, Lussuria happily provided the two with food plus dessert. The two ate eagerly and silently as they chomped down the food at an amazing rate. Then dessert came and the disaster happened.

"Oh my," Lussuria exclaimed, making the two pause from their almost empty plates. "It seems that there's only enough cake for one person."

There was a huge thud that came from right outside the kitchen door. Squalo looked back as the door opened to reveal Bel, who happened to be passing by. Catrina on the other hand froze then smiled slightly.

"Neh Papa," she sweetly said to the silver-haired man. "You don't mind if I have it, right?" Bel flinched slightly and glared daggers at the girl.

"Nah," Squalo replied plainly, slightly amused by this situation. "You can have it." A dagger was thrown at him, he just dodged it.

"Shishi," Bel said, his grin sharpened. "Luss, I can have it right? Because I'm a prince?"

"Of course,"Lussuria happily said, ignoring the purple miasma seeping out from Catrina. "Though I did promise these two the dessert first."

Catrina grinned happily, the purple miasma disappeared from the atmosphered in the kitchen. Bel just scowled and sharply glared at her. Then a thought surfaced within his oh so smart mind. His trademark Cheshire grin appeared in his face as he brought out his knives. Without a moment's notice, he just threw them at her.

Squalo scowled and immediately swatted the knives away with his sword.

"VOI!" He shouted angrily. "Don't you dare kill MY Catrina!"

Upon hearing her name, the said girl turned around to see Squalo slashing his sword at the blond prince. Lussuria just happily laughed as Bel was trying to dodge the silver haired man's sword, a small look of surprise over taking his features. Catrina watched in utter awe and with wide eyes as she watched her father use a plethora of shark named attacks at Bel.

"That's so cool," she breathed out as her eyes sparkled then shouted. "Daddy, can I learn those cool moves?"

Squalo froze along with Bel, who was relieved that he didn't have to take the brunt of the commander's attacks. The silver haired man smiled slightly and nodded, a proud gleam shone obviously in his eyes. Bel paled slightly, upon hearing those words. If Squalo teaches Catrina the way of the sword, he and the others would have to deal with a mini-commander.

"No way," Bel spoke out loud. "The prince won't allow you."

Squalo glared at Bel, making the boy's skin shiver slightly. This sort of intensity wasn't normal for the silver haired commander except when he was serious. Bel felt defeat as he cowered a bit under the glare and backed away out of the kitchen.

"God help us all," he murmured softly as he left, the image of Catrina turning into a mini-Squalo still in his head. Meanwhile, Catrina ate the dessert with a happy grin stuck on her face while Squalo was mentally planning on the oncoming training that she needed to learn the way of the sword.


End file.
